Management considerations

Management considerations

Bluegum eucalyptus is highly flammable and should not be planted nearhomes and other structures [27]. For information regarding theeradication of bluegum eucalyptus, see Fiedler [14], Groenendaal [17],and Rice [38].

The leaves of bluegum eucalyptus release a number of terpenes andphenolic acids. These chemicals may be responsible for the paucity ofaccompanying vegetation in plantations [4]. Natural fog drip frombluegum eucalyptus inhibits the growth of annual grass seedlings inbioassays, suggesting that such inhibition occurs naturally [10,34]. Atleast one leaf extract has been shown to strongly inhibit root growth ofseedlings of other species [4]. The frass from the chrysomelid beetle,which feeds upon bluegum eucalyptus, is allelopathic to grasses at verylow levels [34].

Bluegum eucalyptus is used short-rotation fuel biomass plantations[26,30,35]. The coppice method of regeneration is most common becauseit allows, at least for a limited number of years, repeated harvestingat short intervals and exploitation of exceptionally high early growthrates [35].

In Hawaii, four 64-year-old coppice stands were studied 2 to 5 yearsafter logging. Seventy to eighty percent of the stumps had sprouted.All stands also had seedlings. The seedlings made up more than 20percent of the total number of stems, but contributed very little tovolume as they were usually suppressed by the sprouting stems [42].